RetireMentors

Financial Planning

Skills key for new grad or soon-to-be retiree

Henry (Bud) Hebeler retired from The Boeing Company in 1989 where he was
vice-president for corporate strategic and operational planning. Before that he
was president of The Boeing Aerospace Company, a division which did all of
Boeing’s space work and most of the military products. He now helps people with
retirement planning personally and with articles and programs on
Analyze Now, a site often referenced
by The Wall Street Journal and many financial publications. He has three degrees
from MIT, has been on advisory committees to the U.S. Congress, Departments of
Interior, Commerce, Energy, and Defense, an economic advisor to the Washington
State governor, a member of Washington's Economic Development Council and a
member of several university boards.

Both my mother and father knew the importance of being able to earn a living in multiple ways.

My father never went to college but gained an equivalent education in accounting and business by study and then application — skills that weren't held in high regard by my grandfather who was a well-known union organizer. Dad also taught himself to golf, became a scratch golfer and could have become a pro.

My father also taught himself to type and could rival some of the best secretaries of the time with an accuracy rate of over 100 words per minute on a manual typewriter which he used until he died. This gave him early employment opportunities. I once googled my father's name and found a document he had typed when he was in his early 20s. It was a tabulation of the names of all of Newark's policemen and firefighters. He went on to be a tax expert and then started a very successful business of his own.

My mother's father was a carpenter who, like many during the Great Depression, often had difficulty finding work. But my mother's mother came to the U.S. as an indentured worker to a baker in St. Louis and learned skills that could help support the family. Importantly, my mother's parents felt that their children should be able to work at several different kinds of jobs, so my mother was taught piano as well as baking. Even during the Great Depression, musicians could often find small jobs to bring in some extra money.

For that reason, my mother insisted that both my sister and I learn a musical instrument. We were both taught piano as a must and encouraged to do more. I diversified by learning to play both the flute and trumpet in addition to the piano. Those lessons I learned from the Great Depression stuck with me: Be able to work at more than one kind of a job. I taught both aerodynamics and aeroelasticity courses after work at Boeing to earn some extra money for a down payment on a house and even had a short stint teaching ballistic missile design at Cal Tech years later.

I can't see the future any better than anyone else, but I think that the country's last two decades of excessive consumption has left a mark that will be very difficult to erase. That's the massive personal and government debt that's now with us accompanied by the lowest savings rates over those decades than any time since the Great Depression. The majority of baby boomers have far too little saved to be able to retire in their early 60s as they had hoped. Like their ancestors, many are going to have to work until physically unable and then rely on the support of their children, charity or welfare.

Having the skills to get a part-time job may make it possible to add significantly to savings. I know that helped my savings through part of my working life. A second job, whether yours or a spouse, can help get that down payment for a house or vacation place, pay off credit card debt, make payments on a college loan, buy that new car for cash, start an IRA, or whatever may be important to you at the time. And it may be fun. I used to work at Boeing with a group that formed a band that played at social functions at night. They really got a kick out of it and some additional income to boot.

We are living in an environment where continuous employment may be difficult. However, having multiple skills broadens the number of opportunities.

You don't have to be a youngster to learn new things. With much concern about whether I could be a student again, I went back to college at 39 to get a degree in business. That changed my line of work. In my late 50sI learned how to use a computer, use Excel and PowerPoint. In my 60sI learned enough about financial planning to be able to support myself if I wanted. I've produced programs that have tens of thousands of equations and are used by large numbers of people. In my 70s I was asked to write two books by one of the largest publishers; both books now sold by Amazon. Now in my late 70s, I have a website that gets to more than a million people every year, and I answer a number of emailed financial questions every day. I know I am learning more about economics than I did as a student in business school and look forward to what may be new in my fast approaching 80s.

We're living in an age where many have to be agile to get employment. I can testify that having multiple skills can be crucial to earning an income. What may be even more important, new opportunities provide means to grow both income and knowledge. Multiple skills also make retirement more enjoyable.

I only regret that I had stopped playing musical instruments along the way.

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